Acorn Products, Arbonne International, and Technuity, Inc. will use the combined distribution and demand planning solution to improve demand management and provide accurate inventory stocking level estimates to reduce costs, improve customer service, and better deploy production and distribution assets.

"Our relationship with Epicor continues to grow with an expanding roster of Epicor customers choosing SmartForecasts," said Charles Smart, president of Smart Software. "Epicor customers are taking advantage of the added value that SmartForecasts contributes to their demand planning and management."

Acorn Products of Lewiston, Maine, manufactures casual footwear and quality slippers and is best known as the original maker of slipper sox. With thousands of SKUs and a very seasonal business, Acorn's main objectives are to plan better for seasonality and optimize its manufacturing capacity.

"We needed to consolidate our information systems," said Melissa Farinas, director of information systems at Acorn Products. "Epicor Enterprise and SmartForecasts will provide us with a comprehensive platform and tools to manage our business better and continue to grow."

Technuity, Inc. of Indianapolis, Indiana, designs, manufactures and markets a variety of power products including batteries, uninterruptible power supply products (UPS), and electrical surge protection devices, that are used for electronics applications.

Matt Coffman, Technuity's director of information technology noted, "Technuity will be using SmartForecasts with Epicor's distribution and warehouse management systems to accurately estimate future demand and set appropriate inventory stocking level requirements."

Arbonne International of Irvine, California, is a multi-level marketing company with thousands of independent consultants that sells natural health, beauty, and nutrition products. Arbonne will be using SmartForecasts with Epicor Enterprise to implement best practices for its demand forecasting and purchasing. The software will help Arbonne institute more effective planning processes for understanding customer demand and purchasing its more than 300 products.

Epicor resells SmartForecasts and has developed an interface that seamlessly integrates it with Epicor SCM. This capability provides Epicor's customers with quick, accurate demand forecasts and service level inventory requirements which will enable them to improve demand planning and inventory management.

"The fact that more of our customers are opting for SmartForecasts with the Epicor Enterprise suite supports the growing need among midmarket companies for comprehensive forecasting, planning and inventory management solutions," said Mark Duffell, executive vice president of Epicor Enterprise Solutions and International Operations. "It's vital that companies be able to quickly react to changes in demand, while at the same time managing relationships with suppliers and customers. Together, Epicor SCM and SmartForecasts provide the insight to help companies optimize business performance."

About Smart Software
Founded in 1984, Smart Software, Inc. is a leader in providing businesses with enterprise-wide demand forecasting, planning and inventory optimization solutions. Smart Software's flagship product, SmartForecasts, has thousands of customers worldwide, including midmarket enterprises and Fortune 500 companies, such as Monsanto, Mitsubishi, Siemens, Labatt Breweries, Pfizer, and Coca-Cola. SmartForecasts gives demand planners the tools to handle sales seasonality, promotions, new and aging products, multi-dimensional hierarchies, and intermittently demanded service parts and capital goods items. It also provides inventory managers with accurate estimates of the minimum inventory and safety stock required to meet future orders, thereby ensuring the most cost-effective inventory allocation to achieve desired service levels. Smart Software is headquartered in Belmont, Massachusetts and can be found on the World Wide Web at www.smartcorp.com.

SmartForecasts is a trademark of Smart Software, Inc. Epicor is a registered trademark, and Epicor Enterprise, Epicor Supply Chain Management and Epicor Financials are trademarks of Epicor Software Corporation. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.